Enable real-time internet search capabilities for any LLM in LibreChat using Portkey’s Exa integration
Transform your LibreChat experience by adding web search capabilities to any LLM - whether it’s GPT-4, Claude, Llama, or any of the 250+ models supported by Portkey. This guide shows you how to combine LibreChat, Portkey, and Exa to create a powerful AI chat interface with real-time internet access.
This integration builds upon the basic LibreChat + Portkey setup. Please complete that integration first before proceeding.

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What You’ll Get

By following this guide, your LibreChat installation will have:
  • ✅ Web search for any LLM - Not just OpenAI’s browsing models
  • ✅ Real-time information - Access to current events, latest data, and up-to-date facts
  • ✅ All Portkey features - Observability, caching, fallbacks, and more
  • ✅ Unified interface - One LibreChat setup for all your AI needs
  • ✅ 250+ LLM support - Use web search with any model through Portkey

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How It Works

1

User asks a question in LibreChat

When you send a message requiring current information
2

Request routes through Portkey

Portkey intercepts the request and triggers the Exa plugin
3

Exa searches the web

Relevant search results are fetched from across the internet
4

Context enhancement

Search results are added to your prompt as additional context
5

LLM responds with current information

Your chosen LLM now has access to real-time data to answer accurately

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Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:
  1. ✅ LibreChat installed and running
  2. ✅ Basic Portkey + LibreChat integration completed
  3. ✅ Portkey account with API key
  4. ✅ Exa account with API key

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Setup Guide

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Step 1: Enable Exa Plugin in Portkey

First, activate the Exa plugin in your Portkey account:
  1. Log into your Portkey dashboard
  2. Navigate to Settings → Plugins in the sidebar
  3. Find Exa in the list of available plugins
  4. Click Enable and enter your Exa API key
  5. Save your settings

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Step 2: Create an Exa Guardrail

Next, create a guardrail that will add web search to your requests:
  1. Go to the Guardrails page in Portkey
  2. Click Create New Guardrail
  3. Search for “Exa Online Search” and click Add
  4. Configure the following parameters:
{
  "context_prefix": "<web_search_context>",
  "context_suffix": "</web_search_context>",
  "num_results": 3,
  "timeout": 10000
}
Recommended Settings:
  • Number of Results: 3-5 (balances information vs token usage)
  • Timeout: 10000ms (10 seconds)
  • Include/Exclude Domains: Leave empty for general use, or specify trusted sources
  1. Set the action to passthrough (default)
  2. Save the guardrail and copy the Guardrail ID
Now create a Portkey config that includes your Exa guardrail:
  1. Navigate to Configs in the Portkey dashboard
  2. Click Create New Config
  3. Add your configuration:
{
  "virtual_key": "YOUR_PROVIDER_VIRTUAL_KEY",
  "input_guardrails": ["your_exa_guardrail_id"],
  "override_params": {
    "model": "gpt-4o"  // or any model you prefer
  }
}
  1. Save the config and note the Config ID (e.g., pc-websearch-xxx)

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Step 4: Update Your LibreChat Configuration

Finally, update your LibreChat setup to use the web-search enabled config:
  1. Edit your librechat.yaml file:
librechat.yaml
version: 1.1.4
cache: true
endpoints:
  custom:
    - name: "Portkey with Web Search"
      apiKey: "dummy"
      baseURL: ${PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL}
      headers:
        x-portkey-api-key: "${PORTKEY_API_KEY}"
        x-portkey-config: "pc-websearch-xxx"  # Your config ID from Step 3
      models:
        default: ["gpt-4o", "claude-3-sonnet", "llama-3.1-70b"]
        fetch: true
      titleConvo: true
      titleModel: "current_model"
      summarize: false
      summaryModel: "current_model"
      forcePrompt: false
      modelDisplayLabel: "Portkey:WebSearch"
  1. Restart your LibreChat instance

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Step 5: Test Your Setup

  1. Open LibreChat in your browser
  2. Select “Portkey with Web Search” as your endpoint
  3. Try asking questions that require current information:
"What happened in the tech industry today?"
"What's the current price of Bitcoin?"
"Who won the latest sports championship?"
"What are the latest AI model releases?"
You should see responses with up-to-date information pulled from the web!

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Advanced Configuration

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Domain Filtering

For specialized use cases, you can limit search results to specific domains: 
{
  "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
  "input_guardrails": ["your_exa_guardrail_id"],
  "override_params": {
    "model": "gpt-4o"
  }
}
In your Exa guardrail settings:
  • Include Domains: ["arxiv.org", "nature.com", "pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"] (for academic research)
  • Exclude Domains: ["reddit.com", "twitter.com"] (to avoid social media)

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Multiple Configurations

Create different configs for different use cases:
librechat.yaml
endpoints:
  custom:
    - name: "AI Research Assistant"
      apiKey: "dummy"
      baseURL: ${PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL}
      headers:
        x-portkey-api-key: "${PORTKEY_API_KEY}"
        x-portkey-config: "pc-research-xxx"  # Config with academic domains
      models:
        default: ["gpt-4o"]
      modelDisplayLabel: "Research:WebSearch"

    - name: "News & Current Events"
      apiKey: "dummy"
      baseURL: ${PORTKEY_GATEWAY_URL}
      headers:
        x-portkey-api-key: "${PORTKEY_API_KEY}"
        x-portkey-config: "pc-news-xxx"  # Config with news domains
      models:
        default: ["claude-3-sonnet"]
      modelDisplayLabel: "News:WebSearch"

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Combining with Other Portkey Features

Enhance your web-search enabled config with additional Portkey features: 
{
  "virtual_key": "YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY",
  "input_guardrails": ["your_exa_guardrail_id"],
  "output_guardrails": ["content_safety_guardrail_id"],
  "cache": {
    "mode": "semantic",
    "max_age": 3600
  },
  "retry": {
    "attempts": 3
  },
  "override_params": {
    "model": "gpt-4o",
    "temperature": 0.7
  }
}

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Monitoring Web Search Usage

Track your web-search enhanced conversations in the Portkey dashboard:
  1. Navigate to Logs in Portkey
  2. Filter by config ID to see web-search requests
  3. Click on individual logs to see:
    • The original user query
    • Web search results added as context
    • Token usage (including search context)
    • Response time and costs
Web Search Logs

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Best Practices

Token Management

Monitor token usage as web search adds context. Adjust the number of search results based on your needs and budget.

Model Selection

Some models handle web context better than others. Test different models to find the best fit for your use case.

Query Optimization

Not every query needs web search. Consider creating separate endpoints for general chat vs. current information needs.

Caching Strategy

Use semantic caching for frequently asked current events questions to reduce API calls and costs.

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Next Steps

  • Try different models with web search to compare performance
  • Monitor costs using Portkey’s analytics dashboard
  • Create specialized configs for your team’s specific use cases
  • Set up access controls with user-specific API keys

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Support

Need help? Contact us: